Why ‘Justified’ is ending after season 6

The producers of “Justified” are now working on episode 10 — three episodes ahead of the series finale — and admitted they’re still figuring out their plans for that final installment. “We absolutely don’t know how this is going to end yet,” executive producer Graham Yost told reporters at the Television Critics Assn. press tour in Pasadena on Sunday. “We’ve all been talking about the ending,” he said, adding that it’s been an ongoing conversation since season three. “It changes every year.” Series star Timothy Olyphant, who also serves as an executive producer on the FX drama, said he enjoyed going into this season with a planned finale. “It was nice to know the end is coming,” he said. “That’s been lovely, to see the finish line.” That said, he joked frequently about looking for work after five seasons. “All I’m prepared for is I’m going to be unemployed in a few weeks, I’m going to have to say yes to some s–ty a– f–ing jobs,” he said.An autumnal haze seems to hang over Harlan, Ky., as the critically acclaimed drama “Justified” returns for its sixth and final season Tuesday on FX. The cast and creators were mum on details about the finale, which sets up a final showdown between Olyphant’s Raylan Givens and Walton Goggin’s Boyd Crowder.

The new threat, played by Sam Elliott, doesn’t even really present itself until the third episode, with another fine addition, Garret Dillahunt, as his vaguely threatening surrogate. For the final season of this series, developed by Graham Yost from a character created by Elmore Leonard, the show will focus on Raylan’s (Timothy Olyphant) final push to send Boyd (Walton Goggins) back to jail — with the not always willing aid of Ava (Joelle Carter). Still, that’s emblematic of the laconic charm that has characterized this Elmore Leonard adaptation throughout its run, with Timothy Olyphant’s modern cowboy becoming one of FX’s unsung heroes. Marshal Raylan Givens (Timothy Olyphant) is jonesing to pull up stakes and move to Florida to join ex-wife Winona Hawkins (Natalie Zea) and their baby daughter.

Although the program isn’t as showy or heralded as the network’s other dramas, its sixth-season start reinforces a sense that “Justified” will be sorely missed when it rides into the sunset. Syfy — Cole’s search for information about a mysterious organization known as the Army of the 12 Monkeys leads him to a mental institution in 2015. “With This Ring” 8 tonight Lifetime — After attending a lavish wedding, three best friends (Jill Scott, Eve, Regina Hall) each vow to get married within a year. “Black Sails” 9 tonight Starz (second season debut) — Flint and Silver face judgment from the crew; Vane relishes his new position on the island. “Galavant” 8 p.m. Sunday ABC (first season finale) — Isabella wants Galavant to impress her parents; a plot to kill Kingsley doesn’t go as planned. “The 63rd Annual Miss Universe Pageant” 8 p.m. For Ava, is terrible…I think she’s looking for the best opportunity, and just trying to figure out how to play this new role.” As for how it ends, obviously Yost won’t say. In that sense, it’s an artful and appropriate way of circling back to where this rodeo began, made all the saucier by the drama that has unfolded in the interim.

But that’s all I can say about it.” If Raylan already has one foot out of Harlan as the season opens, Boyd is seeking personal and professional redemption following a season five that went from one humiliation and disappointment to another for him. A lot of fans felt a little of the same sentiment, though they weren’t as demonstrative, when Yost and Olyphant said last year they would end “Justified” after season six. “They were asking if we could do extra episodes so we could split some off for one more season,” said Yost. “But Tim and I talked about it and we kept coming back to the question, ‘Do we have enough story?’ Olyphant telegraphed that message at the start of season five, when he said, “You want to stop before you’re repeating yourself. But he will say that he hasn’t come up with an ending yet — and if you’ve seen the promo that has Ava setting Boyd and Raylan on fire, that won’t be it.

As always, though, that’s just the main event in a series teeming with colorful and quirky characters, with Elliott — an old hand at cowboy parts — a perfect choice as a soft-spoken bad man who gives off an air of menace, and Mary Steenburgen harboring mysterious motives in pushing Boyd into robbing banks. He desperately wants to restore the fire to his troubled relationship with Ava, which means getting into bed, criminally speaking, with Dixie Mafia queen Katherine Hale (Mary Steenburgen) to build up his nest egg. There are only so many situations where Raylan can confront Boyd Crowder (Walton Goggins) before it feels to you and the audience that we’ve seen it before.” In the elaborate dance between Raylan and Boyd, who grew up friends before Raylan became a lawman and Boyd became a criminal, Ava was kind of a swing character. While she spent much of the show in a relationship with Boyd, she was sympathetic to Raylan as well. “We’ve written 11 of the 13,” he said earlier this week. “We tend to approach it the same way Elmore approached his books.

There’s also an underlying sense that Raylan’s cockiness might catch up with him, especially now, with the question of whether concern about family changes someone in his line of work. Perhaps foremost, “Justified” has consistently been one of the more disarmingly funny hours on TV, as illustrated by a scene when Raylan interrupts a married man in the midst of a dalliance with a prostitute. When the lawman jokingly pretends to mistake the woman for the man’s wife, the hooker gets the punch line: “Ew, gross.” The series also revels in a slice of Southern life (actually, more like low-life) newly popular in reality-TV circles, but where few dramas dare to tread. If we tried to extend it beyond that, we would be treading water.” Fans will get to see some favorite past characters as this season plays out, Yost adds, but he and the creative team didn’t want to turn these last episodes into a gratuitous series of farewells. There likely will be a few more this season. “In the first season we were finding ourselves,” says Yost. “Although there were some really terrific episodes. ‘The Dentist’ still may be my favorite episode on the show.” The second season was Mags, and he also likes season three for its guest stars, Neal McDonough as evil Robert Quarles and Mykelti Williamson as the enigmatic Ellstin Limehouse.

Executive producers, Graham Yost, Carl Beverly, Sarah Timberman, Michael Dinner, Fred Golan, Dave Andron, Don Kurt, Taylor Elmore, Timothy Olyphant, Elmore Leonard; co-executive producers, Ben Cavell, Chris Provenzano; supervising producer, Ingrid Escajeda; producers, VJ Boyd, John Vohlers; director, Dinner; writers, Dinner, Golan, Provenzano; camera, Stefan Von Bjorn, Attila Szalay; production designer, Jonathan Carlson; casting, Cami Patton, Christal Karge. 60 MIN. Timothy Olyphant, Walton Goggins, Nick Searcy, Jacob Pitts, Erica Tazel, Joelle Carter, Jere Burns, Sam Elliott, Mary Steenburgen, Garret Dillahunt, Natalie Zea, Damon Herriman Leonard actively promoted the show while alive, and he said that of all the actors who have portrayed his characters in various productions, Olyphant’s Raylan came the closest to what he envisioned on paper. “I think Elmore liked the show,” says Yost. “He was the kind of guy who, if he didn’t, would have said so. The last scene he ever wrote, just before he had his stroke, was between Arlo and Raylan.” Yost himself, who previously worked on significant TV projects like “Earth to the Moon” and “Band of Brothers,” says it’s a little hard while working on a show to imagine where it will ultimately settle in history.